They would have been torn apart from the thousands of pieces of shrapnel from the explosion.

Most people are now starting to question what exactly is in it for them in this war.

It is a war being fought in their name, to liberate them from the Iraqi government, but that war is starting to take its toll on many of them.

The market district which was hit was populated almost exclusively by Shia Muslims - exactly the kind of people that Washington says it wants to rise up and help them in the overthrow of the government.

Their belief is that this mayhem, this loss of life, was caused by the coalition.

One cannot quite say that attitudes are hardening.

But doubts are creeping in among many people as they begin to pay the price of this war.

The movements of those reporting from Baghdad are restricted and their reports are monitored by the Iraqi authorities.